Bursting the Redbubble: Does the Creative Market Work?

Here I am, on another afternoon staring at my monitor as I type up this post. Wait, this sounds somewhat familiar. As I’m reading another of Andrew Ross’s books (In this case, it’s Nice Work If You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times ) I come to the realization that this is […]

(W)here’s the Rub?!: A General Guide to Understanding the Creative Industry as The Corporation

In the last few months, we have examined the corporate structure which organizes our creative industry. In the foreseeable conclusion to our course, Ross outlines the ways in which these structures have ascribed purpose, value, and “protections” in our new industry. He explains that the purpose which we understand, organizes and structures ideas with the hope that […]

Exploitation is Exploitation is Exploitation

Last year I took John Miller’s econ class Sweatshops in the World Economy in which we examined the ongoing impacts of globalization, free trade and capitalism on working conditions both abroad and in the United States. Throughout the semester we were given four definitions of a sweatshop and asked to choose the one we felt […]

The Rise of Technology: The Snapper vs. The Photographer

By far, my favorite form of social media is Instagram. In my free time, I’m usually multitasking, and it’s involved a good 80% of the time.  I love going through peoples photos, as I see photography as the best form of personal expression. When I’m on Instagram, though, it’s clear to see the difference between […]

The Semiotics of Compromise

The message is clear. We all need to learn how to communicate better. Miscommunication and fear defines negative interactions. Experience and education define the ways that we interpret and understand one another. It’s a basic idea of semiotics: the tree that I imagine when I say the word ‘tree’ isn’t the same one that you imagine. If […]

The Water in Which We Swim

Cynthia Littleton’s book TV on Strike: Why Hollywood Went to War Over the Internet contextualized the concepts and ideas we’ve been discussing in class over the last few weeks through providing a real life example of the ways in which the creative class is being exploited by capitalism. Through personal accounts of writers in the […]

Fanon Calls bulls**t on your Revolution

Andrew Ross considers the impossible position of creatives in the industry in his piece No- Collar.   In the piece he complicates the misconception about the creative industry, namely that it exists. The existence of the “creative industry” as we understand it implies that there has been a shift away from the capitalist model from […]